Relief-stamping press



Oct. 22, 1929. F, C, E. JONES 1,732,846

RELIEF STAMPING PRESS Filed Sept. 26, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 M ,Zh/@975Kmyitvmmm/J MTM/M C- 22 1929. F. c. E. JONES 1,732,846

RELIEF STAMPING PRESS Filed Sept. 26, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 l lll.'

Il JZ j Oct. 22, 1929. F, c, E. JQNES 1,732,846

RELIEF STAMPING PRESS Filed Sept. 26, 1927 6 SheetS--Sheel 4 Qct. 22,1929. F, c, E, JONES 1,732,846

RELIEF STAMPING PRESS Filed Sep't. 26, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct 22,1929 F. c. E. JONES 1,732,846

RELIEF STAMPING PRESS Filed Sept. 26, 1927 6 Sheets-Shee; 6

Patented Oct. 22, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RELIEF-STAMPING PRESSApplication led September 26, 1927, Serial No. 221,960, and in GreatBritain September 29," 1926.

This invention relates to a. relief stamping press.

At the present time relief stamping is effected by means of a fla-tplate, the pressure m for forming the relief being appliedsimultaneously over the Whole area of the plate. High pressures are thusrequired and these necessitate a strong and rigid structure of frame,thus entailing considerable' weight and yp cost. Again according to thepresent methods of relief stamping, a reciprocatory action isemployednand this besides imposing constantly changing stresses inopposite directions on the parts of the machine, is also relatively itslow in speed. Again the area of the work whichcan usefully be executedis limited ow ing to considerations of structural strength and cost. Y

Relief stamping involves the distortion or an distension of the paper orcard upon which it is executed to permit of certain portions of thesurface standing in relief at a. relatively considerable distance abovethe main body of the surface.

This is in contradistinction to the practice of photogravure,lithographie or letter press printing in which there is intended to beno raised impression of the plate on the paper, any such raisedimpression should it exist being purely accidental and extremely slight,and the main purpose being the transference of colour in varying depths.

The distension or distortion of the surface which is involved in reliefstamping as mentioned above involves essentially the use of a die plateand a male counterpart; and 'unless the die plate and the counterpartcorrespond exactly and function together the paper or card will'beruptured or only partially raised. Tliese features distinguish reliefstamping from photographic printing, since in this latter class of work,which is recognized in the trade as being totally distinct from reliefstampiner fso that a machine intended for one class ofivork cannot beused `for the other class of Work, an'impression cylinder covered.

with a comparatively soft or resilient bljanlet is used in view of thefact that no distortion of the paper or card is required, but iily .sopressure between the plate and the paper.

terpart and again releasing it for final deliv- Tliis, however, is notpossible in relief stamping, which essentially requires a built-up andpermanent male counterpart corresponding to the die, for each articular`job executed.

According to t e present invention I em- 55 ploy for relief stamping acurved die plate so mounted as to move in a cylindrical path andpreferablyarranged to be universally adj ustable in such path, the dieplate co-operating with a male counterpart. These two elements are inpractice' so driven that they move at' exactly the same peripheral speedandsynchronously in order that they coincide at the moment of printing.

In the preferred form ofthe invention the die plate and the malecounterpart are preferably mounted respectively on rollers of equaldiameter geared together so as to rotate at exactly the same peripheralspeed and synchronously.

According to the invention l also provide means for feeding the sheet tobe operated upon to a fixed gauge an-d for gripping it and drawing itbetween the die plate and the counery. Such latter means are preferablylocated on the roller which in the preferred forni of the inventioncarries the counterpart and are suitably operated, for example by cams.

According to my invention I further provide means for inking the die atsuitable places and at suitable times, and I provide means for giving aban-d of wiping material a positive and adjustable movement in contactwith the die plate and preferably i11` an opposite direction to themotion of the latter so as to thoroughly Wipe and polish it. Such meansinclude mechanism bv which the amount of wastematerial coiled up isalways kept exactly equal to the amount of wiping material used.

I also according to the invention provide means for mounting the dieplate adjustably upon the roller upon which, in thepreferred form of theinvention, it is mounted. Such means preferably comprise steel bands,the ends of which are attached to securing memberswhich have each afulcrum point within a recess in the die roller. The securing mem 100bers are drawn together by means of a rightand-left-handed threadedscrew.

Further according to the invention I provide means whereby if no paperor card is fed into the machine the die roller, the counterpart roller,the wiping roller and the inking and scraping mechanisms are caused toswing away from each other out of operative position, so that althoughdriving still takes place no inking is effected, and therefore soilingof the counterpart is avoided and also waste of ink and wiping material.I further provide means whereby the various mechanisms described may bebrought together again when actual work on the paper or card treated isto be effected.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate a form of construction by way of exampleonly. In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the machine showing theprincipal parts and more especially the die roller, counterpart roller,wiping roller, feed table and inking mechanism. l

Fig. 2 is a small detail view of the mechanism for gripping the paperdelivered from the feed table, drawing it between the die plate .and`counterpart and finally delivering it on the delivery table.

Fig. 3 is a more or less diagrammatic view of the mechanism whereby themachine is put pu of operation if no paper or card is .being Fig. 4 is adetail of the mounting of the inking mechanism looking in the directionof the arrow A in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the inking mechanism and its adjustments andof the cams associated therewith.

Fig. 6 is a detail of the scraper knife and its adjustments and also ofthe cams which govern its actions.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view on a larger scale of the means adopted forsecuring the die in position on its roller.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of the means for drawing together the ends ofthe bands which secure the die in position.

Fig. 9 is a view of the mounting` of the inking mechanism with respectto the die roller, and its associated parts. The figure shows the inkingmechanism swung away from the die roller, for the purpose of allowingthe die to be changed.

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view of the various gear drives which controlthe operation of the different parts of the machine.

Fig. 11 is a more or less diagrammatic view of the wiping mechanismemployed for cleaning and polishing the surface of the die before iteffects the stamping of the paper.

Fig. 12 is a section of the line B-B of Fig. 11 looking in the directionof the arrows.

Figs 13 and 14 show a modification for the automatic re-setting of themechanism, and for putting the wipe mechanism out ofaction together withthe other mechanisms if there happens to be no paper or card in themachine.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises essentially the dieroller 1 and the counterpart roller 2 mounted at each side in theframe-work 3 of the machine. The die roller 1 has mounted upon it thedie plate 4 and this is secured in position by flexible bands 5 at eachside. The die plate is formed with bevelled edges 4a and thecorrespondingly bevelled edges of the bands 5 co-opcrate therewith toproduce a wedging effect.

The opposite ends of the bands 5 are provided with apertures 5 whichpass over hooks 6 formed integrally on short sleeves 7 located within arecess 8 formed in the die roller 1. The sleeves 7 are provided withnoses 9 which engage in the undercut portion 10 at the bottom of therecess 8. The sleeves 7 can pivot slightly on centres 11 through whichthe respectively right and left-handed threaded screw 12 passes.Rotation of this screw 12 will therefore draw the centres 11 moreclosely together, the sleeves at 7 at the same time pivot by means ofthe noses 9 round the undercut portions 10 of the recess as fulcra andthe ends of the bands 5 are therefore at the same time drawn togetherand also depressed with` in the recess 8 so as to be kept out of contactwith other parts of the mechanism.

It will be appreciated that one or more -die plates according to theirsize can thus be mounted on the die roller. The surface of the rolleritself is so arranged that this never comes into contact with the inkingmechanism to be described later, but the die plate stands above thesurface of the roller only just sufficiently to be inked.

Adjacent the die and counterpart rollers is provided a fixed gauge 13 upto which the paper is fed before delivery into the machine. This gaugeis below the level of.the table 14 when the latter is in the feedingposition to the counter part roller 2. lVhen the table is thus liftedwith the paper registered in position, the forward edge of the latter isbrought just within the action of a set of pivoted fingers 18 which clipit against the edge 15) of the opening 20 in the counterpart roller.These pivoted fingers 18 are spring operated. they clip the paper anddraw it between the die and counterpart roller, when the requiredimpression' is made upon it. Atthe top of the vcounterpart roller afriction roller 2l is arranged and at this point the trip 22 formed onone end of the gripper shaft on which the lingers 18 are mounted comesinto contact with a fixed stop 23. The eil'ect of this is to cause thefingers 18 to release their hold on the paper, and they are then heldout of action against the strength of their springs by means of an arm24 with roller 25, the latter contacting with an adjustablek guide track2G the influence of which extends to the point in the revolution atwhich the fingers should close upon and grip another sheet of paper orcard. At this point the fingers 18 are suddenly released and thestrength of their springs causes them to come down smartly on the freshsheet of paper and clip it tightly. The last sheet of paper or cardtreated and which has entered beneath the friction roller 21 is ofcourse passed on in the4 ordinary way to the delivery table 27.

Theinking of the die plate 4 is effected from the adjustable inkingroller 28 mounted in l a suitable framework and inked through theadjustable roller 29 and the roller 30, the latter being mounted in theink trough 3l. The details of the inking mechanisn are shown moreclearly in Fig. 5; the whole of the inking mechanism pivots about thespindle 32. A limit to the closeness of approach of the inking roller 28to the die plate roller is set by the adjustment 33, the screw of whichcontacts with the surface of the sleeve 34 fixed in the frame-Work ofthe inking mechanism, while the pressure exercised by the inkingroller28 on the surface of the diey can be adjusted by means of the spring 35anchored between the short arm 36 of the inking trough 31 and the arm 37pivoted on the rod 54 and adjusted by means of the wheel 39 and spindle40 in a wellknown` manner.

It is usually not desired` that the die plate shall be inked eitherexactly at its commence ment or up to the very end. I therefore providecams 41 mounted in a T-slot 42a by which the inking roller can -be heldoff the surface of the die plate for as long as may be required at thebeginning and end of the latter. The cam roller is indicated by 42.

I may also provide what I call rading cams suchas 43; these are adjustale and of varying contour according to the work to be executed. They aredesigned tomeet the fact that on varying die plates different pressuresmay be required to charge themlwith ink accordingto the depth ofthe'relief. By the use of my grading cams -Ivc'an adjust the pressure ofthe -inking roller on the die plate at various points so that the latteris more or less heavily charged with ink. In order to re movesuperfluous ink from the die plate I provide a scraper knife 44 (secFig. 6). This consists of a 'knife-edge thin steel band mounted betweenacross bar 45 and a shaped member 46 so as to beheld rigid. The member46 isshaped so as to conduct any superfluous ink back to` the inkingtrough 31. vBy means of distance pieces, more than one knife can be usedin the same holder.- The knife and its associated parts are mounted atopposite ends of the machine on arms 47, 48 one of which carries a caniroller 49. It is necessary in order to save the knife from injury tobring it down only on to the surface of the die plate and preferablyjust before the inked portion ofl the latter commences. purpose Iprovide cams 50 which remove it from the surface at the required timeand for the required period in a well-understood manner. rlhese cams areadjustable in the T-slot 51. The knife is pressed on to the surfaceofthe die plate by means of the adjustable spring mechanism 52 and itcan be adjusted as regards its limit of movement towards the die plateby means of the adjusting screw 53 which contacts with the surface ofthe rod 54. The knife and its associated mechanisms are pivoted on therocking rod 55.

When the bulk of the superiiuous ink has been removed by the knife orknives it is then necessary for t ie die plate to be wiped and polishedbefore operating on the paper or card. The wiping mechanism will now'bemore closely described in connection with Figs. 11 and 12 of thedrawings. In these iigures, 1 is as before thedie roller, and in contactwith this is provided a wiping roller 56. This roller which is p ivotedat 57 is provided with a slotted arm 58 by means of which an adjustablecrank arm 59 is carried, the crank arm at its other end being pivotallyand adjustably mounted in a T-slot 60 in ya crank disc 61 which receivesa continuous rotation from the main power shaft 62; it will be seen thatthe continued rotation of the crank disc 61 will produce an oscillatorymovement of the roller56. In a bracket 63 located in any convenientmanner on the frame of the machine is provided a roll 64 of paper orother vsuitable wiping material which passes over the guiding roller 65,the surface of the wiping roller 56, then over a guide roller 66, againover the lower portion of the roller 56 and then toa waste roller 67underneath a friction roller 68.

The action of the mechanism is as follows The continued rotation of thecrank disc 61 produces an oscillatory motion of the wiping roller 56 andthe material thereon 'thus meetinthe Surface of the die vplate andmoving in t e opposite direction produces a very efficient cleaning andpolishing action on the surface of the latter. The wiping roll` er 56 isat each end provided with a quadrant 69 operating a slidable rack 70mounted in guides 71 suspended from the shaft 57 and connected at oneend pivotally to a carrier mechanism 72 movin forwards by means orollers 7 3 on a track 74. The wiping material which has been used isthus advanced bodily at each reciprocation of the wiping roller b meansof the quadrant 69 and rack 70. On t e carrier mechanism 72 is mounted aspindle 75 on which the waste material is coiled. At one end thisspindle carries a pulley 76 over which is coiled a cord 77 between twofixed shaft as the pulley 7 is also mounted a ratchet.

For this' freely backwards and points 78. On the same.

iso

wheel 76 co-operating witha pawl 80. The action of the mechanism is thenas follows. On the movement of the carrier 72 to the right the tendencyof the cord 7 7- passing round the pulley 79 is to rotate the latter. Itcannot, however, do this because of the presence of the pawl 80 andratchet wheel 7 6. On the return stroke, however, the tendency of thecord to rotate the pulley can have full play, and the waste material isthen wound u on the spindle 75. The spindle 75 and its journals arepressed upwards by the spring 81, so that however large the amount ofcoiled-up material may be (within limits) it is always pressed up intocontact with the roller 68. A knob 82 with a short spindle 83 isprovided for the usual purpose of allowing easy removal of the coil ofwaste material from the spindle 75.

I will now describe the mechanism by means of which the parts of themachine are thrown out of operation when no paper or card is present, sothat the inked die plate will not foul the surface of t-he counterpartroller, or the wiping material be used up uselessly. For this purpose itis necessary to refer 'mainly to Figs. 3, 4 and 9. When the paper isplaced on the feed table 14 it passes to the guide stop 13 over a comb84 (Fig. 1) and beneath a roller 85 mounted on a short arm 86. On thesame spindle as the arm 86 is mounted a second arm 87 carrying a smallpip 88 adapted to come beneath the end of the pivoted lever 89. If thepip comes into that position; it also comes beneath the end of a smallplunger 90 actuated by a cam 91 in the usual rotation of the machine. 1fpaper or card is being fed to the machine the roller 85 is kept in itsupper position and the pip 88 does not come under the end of the lever89. In this case the cam 91 during each revolution pushes up the plunger90 against the strength of its spring 92 but without effect since theplunger does not contact with the lever 89. Should there, however, be nopaper in the machine the roller 85 drops into the comb and the pip 88 isthen brought just above the plunger 90 and then raises the lever 89 anddisengages the nose 93 thereon from a corresponding nose on a shortlever 94, whichis linked by an adjustable rod to theeccentrically-mounted journal of the die roller. Referring to Fig. 3 thecentre of the die roller spindle is at 95 but the centre of its journalis at 96. The tendency, therefore, is for the spindle of the die rollerto drop and thereby separate the die roller from the counterpart roller.The spindle of the wiping roller is also eccentrically mounted in itsjournal and the journals are linked together by the adjustable rod 97;the dropping therefore of the spindle 95 will be accompanied by thedropping of the spindle of the wiping roller and the eccentricities ofthe spindle 95 will be accompanied by the dropping of the spindle of thewiping roller and the eccentricities of the spindles and the journalsare so arranged with regard to each other that the wiping roller willdrop a further distance than the die roller. At the same time the lilik98 of the spindle of the die roller imparts motion to the members 99,100, of the toggle mechanism pivotally mounted at 101, on the framing ofthe machine. The inking mechanism is slidably mounted in a carriermechanism at 102 and is linked at 103 to the member of the togglemechanism. It will therefore be seen that the dropping of the die rolleris simultaneously accompanied by the pushing of the inking and scrapingmechanisms away from the die plate or plates.

In Figs. 13 and 14 is shown the automatically acting mechanism forre-setting the machine after the trip action has taken place, and forputting the wipe out of action if there happens to be no paper or cardin the machine, so that the wipe is not used up uselessly. A nose 93 ofFig. 3 is formed upon a sleeve 106 cari'ied by an arm 107 provided witha roller 108. The roller 108 is adapted to contact with a cam sleeve 109formed upon the crank disc 61. Normally when paper or card is being fedregularly to the machine the nose 93 is kept in engagement with thelever 89 and the cam sleeve 109 simply rotates eontinuously wit-houtoperating the roller 108. lf, however, there is no paper or.card presentin the machine, the lever 89 is tripped and the arm 107 with its roller108 then drops automatically into the path of the cam sleeve 109. On thenext revolution of the latter therefore, it will swing the arm 107 backto its original position, and thus re-set the machine, assuming thatpaper oi' card has now been inserted. Sh'ould this, however, not be thecase the lever u89 is tripped again, and this continuous setting andtripping continues until' paper or card is once more fed into themachine.

lVith the tripping of the lever 89 the cylinders 1, 2 and 56 dropapart-from eat-h other as described above. This, however, would notprevent the wipe material from continuing to be fed, and thus be wasted.1n the modification as shown particularly with reference to Fig. 14, thearm 58 is now formed with a sleeve freely mounted on the shaft 57. Itis, however, connected with the shaft 57 through the medium of a clutch110 whereby it engages a sleeve 111 slidably keyed on the shaft andpressed into engagement by the spring 112. The sleeve 111 engages a fork113 pivoted at 114 on the standard 115, and has a nose 116 adapted tocontact with an adjustable nose 117 mounted on the framing of themachine. lVhen the tripping of the lever 89 takes place the cylinder' 56drops and With it the parts 57, 58, 111, 113 and so forth. The droppinghowever, ofthe fork 113 causes it to pivot as it were about the nose 117with which the nose 116 still remains in contact, and this isaccompanied by the sliding of the sleeve 11 to the right against thestrength of the spring 112, and by the disengagement of the clutch 110.The arm 58 is therefore disengaged from the shaft 57 and merely rocks toand iro idly. The feeding of the Wipe material therefore no longer takesplace.

Referring to Fig. 9 the inking mechanism is pivotally mounted at 104 inthe slides 102 which are guided in the frame-Work of the machine. On theopposite side the pin 105I (Fig. Ll) serves to retain the inkingmechanism in connection with the left hand slide member 102. Thisreleasing movement and pivoting of the inking mechanism round the pivot104 is necessary to allow of easy access to the die plate when it isbeing changed.

I claim 1. A reliet stamping press comprising a curved die plate, meansfor adjustably mounting said plate on a rotating cylinder, adjustablemeans for inking said die plate, an adjustable scraper mechanism forremoving` any excess of ink from the plate, a Wiper cylinder in contactwith said first-named cylinder, means for feeding a band of mate-v rial'passing over said Wiper cylinder posi tively to wipe and polish theplate, a male counterpart adapted to co-operate with said die plate andmounted upon a rotating cylinder of equal diameter to said first-namedcylinder, and means for disengaging said cylinders from each other andfrom the inking mechanism if no material to be stamped is in themachine, substantially as described.

2. A relief stamping press comprising a curved die plate, means for adjustably mounting said plate on a rotating cylinder, ad justable meansfor 'nking said die plate, an adjustable scraper mechanism for removingany excess of ink trom the plate, a Wiper cylinder in contact with saidiirstaiamed cylinder, means for feeding a band of material passing oversaid Wiper cylinder prosi-` tively to Wipe and polish the plate, a malecounterpart adapted to co-operate with said die plate and mounted upon arotating cylinder of equal diameter to said first-named cylinder, meansfor disengaging said cylinders from each other and from -the inkinginder of equal diameter to said iirst named cylinder, means fordisengaging said cylinders from'each other and from the inking mechanismif no material tobe stamped is in the machine, means for discontinuingthe feed ol' Wipe material in the same circunr stances, and means forautomatically re-setting the parts of the machine when material to bestamped is once more fed thereinto, substantially as described.

4. A relief stamping press comprising a rotary die supporting cylinder,in combina tion with two axially spaced bands disposed aboutsaidcylinder, and means for cinching said bands about said cylinder, saidbands having their opposed adjacent edges undercnt on a bevel andadapted to cooperate With correspondingly beveled edges of a die plate,whereby said plate will be heldrmly against said cylinder and supportedthereby at all points of the area of said plate.

FRANCIS CHARLES EDWIN JONES.

mechanism if no material to be stamped'is in the machine and means fordiscontinuing the feed of wipe material in the same circumstances,substantially as described.

3. `A relief stamping press comprising a curved die plate, means foradjustably mounting said plate on a rotating cylinder, adjustable meansfor inking said die plate, an adjustable scraper mechanism for removingany excess of ink from the plate, a Wiper cylinder in contact With saidfirst-named cylinder, means for feeding a band of material passing oversaid Wiper cylinder posi,-

tively to wipe and polish the plate, a malel counterpart adapted toco-operate with said die plate and mounted upon 'a rotating cyl-

